the Symtoms Of Weils Disease

Published at 02/16/2012 14:02:55

Introduction

Also known as Leptospirosis, the weils disease is a bacterial disease that affects not only humans but also adults. In normal circumstances, humans usually contract this disease when they drink water or consume food that is contaminated with urine of an infected animal. The most familiar culprits that carry this infection in the urban areas are the rats. When you are exposed to weils disease, you might not experience any symptoms at first. Sometimes however some symptoms may start to manifest though at its acute stage. It then proceeds to be more severe as you close the second stage, a stage when the bacteria have already invaded the organs. Below is an explanation of these stages and the symptoms that may present with when you are infected with weils disease.

Symptoms of Weils Disease

The first is the primary stage where fever is the most common symptom of weils disease. Fever is however not the only presenting symptom in this stage, others like chills and headache also accompany it. Sometimes you may experience severe muscle and joint pain. The muscle pain will particularly be felt in the calves. Though in fewer instances, you may also notice some gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting and nausea. The fever will actually be 100 degrees farenheight. The following symptoms then start streaming in at the second phase. In this, the symptoms are categorized with organs they manifest with. Weils disease symptoms usually differ as per the organ that it is infected. It can be the kidneys, the brain, the eyes, liver, as well as the lungs. Generally, they occur after a period of about 1 week after the acute phase. They are like below. In the brain, weils disease presents with symptoms similar to those of meningitis. These are sensitivity to light, severe headache and a stiff neck.

Features

The kidney on the other hand can be very much affected by weils disease. In fact the most sever you would experience is kidney failure. The increment of toxins as a result of this failure can lead to swellings in your extremities. You would also experience fatigue, shortness of breath not forgetting loss of appetite. The liver is another organ that may cause various symptoms as a result of weils disease. When it is infected, it can lead to jaundice and hepatitis whereby you will start seeing your skin and eyes turn yellow. You will also feel pinching pain around the liver and have some periods of nausea. You will also expect to develop alcohol intolerance, loss of weight and tenderness. If Weils disease is left untreated, the worst might happen. You would experience liver failure and finally death.

Tips and comments

Symptoms are also experienced in the eyes as well as the lungs when you have Weils disease. For the eyes, when retina is infected you get a condition called uveitis which presents with blurred vision, red and painful eyes and sensitivity to light. On the other hand for the lungs, you may start coughing out blood and also having short breath periods. In worst occasion, Weils disease can lead to internal bleedings in the lung area and finally loss of lung function.